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TESTIMONY

Carol McCarthy from Douglaston Civic Association on opposition to City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative

2:49:49

·

125 sec

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Carol McCarthy, a board member of the Douglaston Civic Association and long-time homeowner in Douglas And Little Neck, strongly opposes the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. She argues that the plan will not provide affordable housing, benefit only developers, and negatively impact community infrastructure and quality of life.

  • McCarthy warns that the initiative could lead to disasters with accessory dwelling units in basements, attics, garages, and yards.
  • She suggests that if the plan passes, the community may consider secession from New York City.
  • McCarthy emphasizes that the majority of civic associations have voted against the plan and reminds city officials that they work for the taxpayers.
  • The plan is based on a false premise and will not provide affordable housing
  • Only special interests and developers will benefit from the plan
  • Lack of infrastructure to support the proposed changes
  • Negative impact on health care, education, sanitation, and public safety
  • Will destroy the nature of the community
  • Accessory units (basements, attics, garages, yards) pose safety risks
  • Threat of secession from New York City if the plan passes
  • The majority of civic associations have voted against the plan
  • Residents pay taxes and should have their voices heard

[EXPERIMENTAL]

Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?

  • UAP
  • Parking Mandates
  • ADU
  • Transit-Oriented Development

The following are AI-extracted quotes and reasoning about which elements of the proposal were discussed in this testimony.

This is a quick, close approximation. Occasionally, the connection between a testimony's transcript and specific elements of City Planning's proposal is tenuous.

Read about this AI-generated analysis here.

UAP

"The end result will provide no affordable housing."

This quote indicates that the speaker is discussing the UAP element, which aims to create affordable housing. The speaker is arguing against the effectiveness of the proposal in achieving this goal.

Parking Mandates

"There will be no infrastructure to support this. No additional parking or transportation."

This quote suggests that the speaker is addressing the issue of parking, which is related to the proposal's element of removing parking mandates. The speaker is expressing concern about the lack of additional parking that would result from the proposal.

ADU

"As far as accessory units are concerned, basements, attics, garages, yards. This is a recipe for disaster. Floods, fires, and civilian casualties."

This quote directly addresses the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) element of the proposal. The speaker is expressing strong opposition to the idea of allowing ADUs, citing safety concerns.

Transit-Oriented Development

"There will be no infrastructure to support this. No additional parking or transportation."

While not explicitly mentioning transit-oriented development, this quote indicates that the speaker is concerned about the lack of additional transportation infrastructure, which is related to the transit-oriented development element of the proposal.


About this analysis:

This analysis is done by AI that reasons whether or not a quote from the testimony discusses a particular element of the proposal.

All the prompts and data are open and available on Github.

You can search for testimonies that mentioned a specific element in the table on the main meeting page.

When an element is explicitly stated in the testimony (e.g. "Universal Affordability Preference" or "UAP"), the analysis is accurate.

But the connection between a quote from the testimony and an element of the proposal is sometimes implicit.

In these cases, the AI might eagerly label a testimony as discussing a proposal when the connection is tenuous, or it might omit it entirely.

↗ Why are there transcription and diarization errors?
Carol McCarthy
2:49:49
Okay.
2:49:50
Alright.
2:49:51
My name is Carol McCarthy.
2:49:52
I've been a homeowner in the Douglas And Little Neck community for over 50 years.
2:49:57
We are a cohesive, unified, and diverse community.
2:50:00
I'm on the board of directors of the Delta Scientific Association.
2:50:05
And the city of Diaz housing opportunity is based on Affold's premise.
2:50:09
The outcome of past will be the opposite of what has been surreptitiously presented by the city planning commission.
2:50:17
The end result will provide no affordable housing.
2:50:20
The special interest and developers will be the only ones benefit from this poorly conceived plan.
2:50:26
There will be no infrastructure to support this.
2:50:29
No additional parking or transportation.
2:50:32
There'll be a negative impact on health care, education, sanitation, and public safety.
2:50:38
It will destroy the nature of our community and the very reason for our being here.
2:50:43
It will put an untenable burden on the taxpayers and a negative impact on the quality of life for our residents.
2:50:52
As far as accessory units are concerned, basements, attics, garages, yards.
2:50:58
This is a recipe for disaster.
2:51:01
Floods, fires, and civilian casualties.
2:51:05
If passed, we will face and be forced to consider the very real possibility, and no one has mentioned this yet, of secession from the city of New York.
2:51:14
This can be done and it will be done if necessary.
2:51:17
We have the means to do it.
2:51:19
If the voice of the people is not heard and acknowledged, the vast majority of the civics have voted no.
2:51:26
The people who provide a major part of the tax base say no to the planning commission to the city council to you mayor Adams to you, Adrian Adams, we pay your salaries.
2:51:38
You are working for us.
2:51:40
Without our taxes, you will all be unemployed in the near future.
2:51:45
We're not going to stand by and allow you to destroy our community, the community we have resided in and work for all of our lives.
2:51:54
Thank you.

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